Tom and Matt Smith

Tom and Matt Smith are father and son jazz musicians best known for their work in the United States, Eastern Europe and China.

Tom Smith (father) is a long time American university professor and multiple Senior Fulbright Professor of Music at the Romanian National University of Music, the University of Bucharest, the University of KwaZulu-Natal Jazz Center, in Durban, South Africa and the University of Arts, in Belgrade, Serbia. He was introduced to fine arts at an early age by his father, a noted trombonist and painter, best known for his work with New Orleans traditional jazz artist Murphy Campo. Tom Smith was the longest continuous member of the North Carolina Artist-in-Residence Program (1984–1992). It was during this time that he founded some of the most critically acclaimed community and regional jazz ensembles in America, while performing for over two-million people. His best known group was the Unifour Jazz Ensemble, an eighteen-piece big band that placed seventh in the 1988 Down Beat Readers Poll. In that same poll, Smith placed fifth in the trombone category. As an improvising soloist, he has performed and toured with Louie Bellson, Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Chris Potter, the New York Voices, Nicholas Payton, Herb Ellis, Donald Byrd, Darius Brubeck and the Manhattan Transfer. Smith is also a noted music historian and researcher. In 2001 he and his research partner Gary Westbrook received international recognition for identifying the musical fingerprint for identification of unknown personnel on early recordings. Since 2002, his work in Romania has drawn wide attention in the field of jazz education. Called by a former Fulbright Executive Director the premminent Fulbright Scholar in Romanian history, Smith is the only foreigner to have been awarded The Romanian National Radio Prize (Romania's highest musical honor). Most recently, he founded and coordinated the Romanian Jazz Education Seminar, the first summer music camp staged in Romania, and helped found the first western styled jazz music college in that country. In 2008, Smith was the recipient of the International Association for Jazz Education Jazz Ambassador Award, in special ceremonies in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2009, Tom receiSved his seventh Fulbright Award (a record for musician professors) and accepted residency at the Serbia Academy of Music (University of Arts) drafting the curriculum for their jazz program. Later, he accepted guest jazz studies appointments in Budva, Montenegro. In 2010 Tom and his wife Sarah relocated again to Northeast China to implement a new series of programs and initiatives. In 2011 he was appointed a professor of music at Ningbo University, assigned to establish the first academic jazz program on the Chinese mainland and serve as editor in chief of China's first English language journal of musicology.

Matt Smith (son) is an award winning teenage jazz percussionist and hip hop mixologist, considered among the fastest drummers in the world. In 2006, he became (at age 16) the youngest ever WFD World's Fastest Drummer Extreme Sport Drumming World Champion. He has held a number of speed drumming world records, including the record for high speed endurance (5132 single strokes in five consecutive minutes),and is currently the #1 ranked traditional grip speed drummer of all time, defeating Mike Mangini with a score of 1132 single strokes in one minute on June, 2008. He was introduced to drums at age 9 when Louie Bellson (one of his father's performing acquaintances) gave him his first pair of drumsticks. His official debut occurred at age 12, when he performed for a jazz combo on Romanian National Television. At age 14, he recorded a debut album under his own name featuring an all star Eastern European lineup. In 2008, he was ranked third in the Rising New Star category of the Drum Magazine Reader's Poll. After receiving a performance diploma from the Atlanta Institute of Music in 2009, Matt relocated to Bucharest, Romania and performed with numerous jazz and pop ensembles throughout the world. In 2010 he signed on with the Adrian Klein Agency where he began production of nu jazz recordings, and performed with a diverse lineup of artists that included jazz pianist Darius Brubeck and Linkin Park singer Mike Shinoda. In 2011 he signed on as house drummer for the popular European television program Acadeaua, performing for the entire first season.